PubMed | Peoples Hospital of Liaocheng, Government College University at Faisalabad and China Pharmaceutical UniversityType: Journal Article | Journal: International journal of pharmaceutics | Year: 2016

Many nanoparticle matrixes have been demonstrated to be efficient in brain targeting, but there are still certain limitations for them. To overcome the shortcomings of the existing nanoparticulate systems for brain-targeted delivery, a lipoprotein resembling protein-free nanostructured lipid carrier (PS80-NLC) loaded with curcumin was constructed and assessed for in vitro and in vivo performance. Firstly, single factor at a time approach was employed to investigate the effects of various formulation factors. Mean particle sizes of 100nm, high entrapment efficiency (EE, about 95%) and drug loading (DL, >3%) were obtained for the optimized formulations. In vitro release studies in the presence of plasma indicated stability of the formulation under physiological condition. Compared with NLC, PS80-NLC showed noticeably higher affinity for bEnd.3 cells (1.56 folds greater than NLC) but with lower uptake in macrophages. The brain coronal sections showed strong and widely distributed fluorescence intensity of PS80-NLC than that of NLC in the cortex. Ex vivo imaging studies further confirmed that PS80-NLC could effectively permeate BBB and preferentially accumulate in the brain (2.38 times greater than NLC). The considerable in vitro and in vivo performance of the safe and biocompatible PS80-NLC makes it a suitable option for further investigations in brain targeted drug delivery.

BACKGROUND Ischemic stroke (IS) is a leading cause of disability and death and NOTCH3 as a gene related with cardiac-cerebral vascular disease plays a vital role in IS development. However, the reports about the effect of genetic variants in NOTCH3 gene on IS are still few. MATERIAL AND METHODS In order to explore the association between NOTCH3 polymorphisms and IS, 134 patients with IS and 115 controls were enrolled in this case-control study. Polymerase chain reaction was used to do the genotyping of polymorphisms. The test was performed to evaluate Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in the control group and calculate odds ratio (OR) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) which represented the association intensity of NOTCH3 gene polymorphisms and IS risk. RESULTS The genotype frequencies in the control group all confirmed to HWE. TT genotype of 381C>T was associated significantly with IS risk (OR=2.441, 95%CI=1.021-5.837). TC, CC mutant genotypes of 1735T>C had higher frequencies in cases than controls and the difference was significant (P=0.013, 0.041); further, its C allele also increased 0.722 times risk in the case group than controls (OR=1.722, 95%CI=1.166-2.541). CONCLUSIONS NOTCH3 381C>T and 1735T>C polymorphisms were associated with IS and might be the risk factors for IS development, but not NOTCH3 605C>T polymorphism.

PubMed | Peoples hospital of LiaochengType: | Journal: European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society | Year: 2016

Postdural disc herniation has been documented rarely and the pathogenesis is still unknown. The average age of postdural disc herniations is between 50 and 60years, and the sites most frequently affected by postdural lumbar disc herniations are L3-L4 and L4-L5, only less than 10% in L5-S1. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a useful tool in the diagnosis of this disease, the postdural disc herniation is usually misdiagnosed as extradural spine tumor preoperatively. The definitive diagnosis is made during operation or according to the postoperative pathology.In this article, we described here a 48-year-old male patient who presented with intermittent pain in the low back and frequent urination for 4 years as well as hypesthesia and pain of the left lower extremity for 1 month.A standard total laminectomy was performed and the histopathological diagnosis was consistent with a degenerated intervertebral disc. The patient presented significant relief of the pain and of the neurological symptoms, but no improvement of frequent urination, in the postoperative period.The diagnosis of postdural disc herniations is very difficult and mainly based on intraoperative and histopathological results. Early surgical intervention is important to relieve symptoms and prevent severe neurological deficits.